Fantasy Football - Top 10 WR Rankings + What Could Go Wrong? - Podcast for 8/10

Who else is there? Oh, yeah, isn't Hollywood Brown there? But I never, like, if you told me he retired early this off season, I would believe you. I'd be like, oh, I missed that news. Josh Jacobs did not practice Thursday or Friday or Sunday with a groin injury. The groin is going around. Jaden Reed did not practice on Sunday ankle injury, Matthew Golden, toe injury. So the Packers taking some time off there.

A couple of bigger pieces of news. We got news this morning that the new center for the Lions is going to miss eight to ten weeks or longer in midseason return. That sucks. That was an upgrade point for them. They went out. They spent the money and then they're going to miss it. Laramie Tunzel will miss the majority of the season. Torn triceps. That would be the commander's left tackle. And that's a big deal. It's a downgrade for that offensive line, which means Jaden, which means Bill. Bill.

And then Hunter Henry agreed to a two-year contract extension for $14.5 million. I mean, he's the definition of a Dalton Schultz-esque solid tight-in that could. If you start those guys on any given week, they could be fine. Absolutely. Hunter Henry's a good player. Especially to start the year. He always gets off to like the first two weeks of every season. He does feel like he owns the first three weeks. He waited until weeks three and four this time. Oh, was it? Somewhere early in the season, he goes off every year.

Is there any news that I, I mean, sprained MCL for Isaiah Pacheco, I missed that. They think he'll be ready in week one. That's all I know of right now. Yeah, Malik neighbors trending towards being ready for week one. That was the other news coming out from ESPN's Jordan Renan. How do you feel about that? Oh yeah, and the quad contusion for Zay Flowers. Yeah, it seems as far as Malik neighbors, every.

video that you watch, you go, okay, he seems ready, whether he is fully cleared for, you know, every bit of contact and every route. But I've also heard over the last couple weeks, you know, from boots on the ground that he's looking better. Like every week that goes on, he's looking more and more like himself. So I think come week one, he will be on the field. I think come week six, he'll be back to his normal, you know, pre-injury self. Also, one other piece of news, I do believe that the quad

issue with Mike Evans is in the past now. He was back out there. Okay. Did you move Luther Burden in your rankings? I have not adjusted yet. Okay. I mean, are you going to? Right now, I don't plan to. I was already, here, let me go, I can double check again, but like because of his ADP, we've just been lower on him than the ADP because it took off like a rocket ship.

Yeah, it's ironic because we have not been drafting much Luther Burton, even though we love the talent and the situation because of his ADP. But now with the injury, he's probably going to drop quite a bit as people are worried about it. And then maybe we end up with some burden. I did up his risk rating in the ultimate draft. Yeah, and I may be moved him just a touch. Because, I mean, there's a risk now. I mean, he could miss week one. That actually is in the realm of possibility.

All right, we'll take a break and jump into the top 10 wide receivers. What's up, Foot Clan? You are confident and disciplined and focused on details, just like everyone here at the fancy footballers, right? Those are words you used to describe us. In other words, you were made to drive the 2026. Sierra 1500, Denali, a full-size pickup combining capability with elevated design and advanced technology. You can seek out the exceptional width the Denali.

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Games not included with DirecTV requires separate paid app subscriptions. Service renews monthly unless canceled. Local channels vary by market, blackouts, and other terms apply. Wide receivers. All righty. We did a wide receiver episode on Friday, counting down the number 20 through number 11 in our consensus rankings. We're looking at the top 10 today. This should be fun discussions to be had.

What makes a top 10 wide receiver in fantasy since 2015, someone finishing in the top 10 for fantasy, 67% of them averages nine or more targets per game. So you're talking cream of the crop. 73% had eight or more receiving touchdowns. So we should discuss these players in the context of can they reach that mark. The average numbers for top 10 wide receivers, 99 receptions on 148 targets, 1,300 plus yards, and 9.5 touchdown. So you're talking.

Big time year. Yeah, I mean, yeah. Top end is pulling that average. Yeah, and maybe if we have time at the end, I'd love to know a name. I mean, maybe it was discussed on the last show. Maybe it's somebody else outside of the top 20. But somebody that you think can get up into that tier that isn't in that tier. We'll go ahead and we'll start it off here. Number 10. Nico Collins comes in at number 10. We finally found a guy. Yes, there it is. That I am the highest on.

Yeah, it turns out that Mike is the highest on Nico Collins. He's been the wide receiver 9, 20, and 8 the last three years. He has not played a complete season ever. I think that's something that might be not talked about much about Rico. 14 games, 10 games, 15, 12, 15. So, you know, when you look at what he did last year, points per game, it was a little bit down, 12.7 versus he's been at 14.7.

He's a machine. He's a great player. Three straight thousand yard seasons. Second in yards per route run over the last three seasons. We love that number. Seventh in PPR points per game over the last three seasons. So if you just look at points per game, Puka, Jamar, Amanra, Citi, Tyreek, and Malik Neighbors, and then Nico Collins. Ahead of Jefferson, ahead of A.J. Brown, ahead of Devante Adams.

We know he's the number one. We might not like C.J. Stroud a lot, but this is the team that's going to be very good, threatening for the division. Where are you with the, you know, I'm looking their favorite in six of their first seven weeks. The Buffalo matchup in week one should be fun. Why doesn't he necessarily feel like drafting Jamar Chase or Jefferson? Is it all related to Stroud?

I don't think it's all related to Strout. A lot of it is also related to volume. He is, you know, the deep threat gets, you know, those bomb touchdowns that's great, wins you a week. But he's not a guy that's going to be up. You know, we just talked about pretty much the average top 10 wide receivers, usually about 150 targets. He's not going to get 150 targets. I don't think. I mean, that's just not how he's been utilized this last year. He had 120 targets. Yeah, he averaged eight targets a game.

and we said the threshold was nine. He's not in the 130 range, probably. Yeah, I mean, last year finished as the wide receiver 8, which is like, oh, that's great, but it's ironic because we've talked a lot about how Zay Flowers finishes the wide receiver 7, but it was like fake because this year with injuries to other guys and the points per game. Like he had his lowest points per game this past season, Nico Collins did in the last couple of years. So what we saw most recently was not.

really exciting, really inspiring as like, we went into last year believing he could be a top three wide receiver and then regressed on a points per game basis. Now you get a couple other guys. The news around Jaden Higgins has been phenomenal recently. I don't know if people are plugged into that, but Higgins has been talked up like crazy, not just by beat reporters, but also.

I mean, CJ Stroud himself. How about by Nico Collins? Yeah, that boy, a dog, got all the tools in the world, going to be the face of the franchise one year. Yeah, so I mean, that's pretty good. And then you get Tank Dell back. So, I mean, maybe this just helps open things up for Nico. But to me, when I look at Nico versus the other guys around him, my biggest hardship is just target volume. And I will say he's usually overcome it.

So it's not a big scare. I don't look at him like a bust pick. He's just not my favorite archetype personally. I wonder what Kyle, if you want to look up what C.J. Stroud's yardage line is set at this year. That's a concern for me. 217 yards a game last year for C.J. Stroud. A defense that is going to be built to minimize Stroud's mistakes, allow David Montgomery and Woody Marks to run the football.

And then you'd think that Nico Collins would have been a player that has gotten to double-digit touchdowns with that frame. He's never done it. Eight, seven, six, the last three years. Oh, no. These trends continue. Yeah, I mean, based on how numbers work. But I think those are all, I think you guys brought up the main points there. And I think he's a very solid, you know, top 12 type of guy, but not going to be somebody that's going to can finish a number one. I don't think that's possible. It's really funny because there's two, like, types of.

options you want in the receiving game you want a team that is just you know the bangles the cowboys teams that are going to be putting up 30 points seen as a top five NFL offense or you want a team that's like they're going to be down all game they've got to throw like crazy and this is neither of those this isn't going to be a top 10 offense at least it's not currently projected that way because this is such a good defense but this is a really good team they're going to be hopefully running the ball in the fourth quarter versus throwing the ball so it's like this

double whammy against the passing game for the Texans. And it's at no fault of their own. It's a good strategy to win ball games for the Texans. When you have Stroud. They're going to win. Well, Nico is the Jaden Higgins stuff. I think it's interesting. Higgins is a he's a fun player. Like we're going into year two.

I wasn't impressed on film last year by James. I wasn't. I watched the film and I felt like he left a lot on the table and I was surprised. Maybe it's Stroud that, you know, brings it down, not enough opportunities, not enough good situations. The Stroud yardage line is 3599. Yeah, so he's sitting right at 3,600. It's the same number as Baker Mayfield. Sorry, Nico's the number one. That's like, that's the argument for Nico Collins is he's.

Very good. The last three years has been solid for fantasy. This past year was more down than the other two. And Stroud, for all of his weaknesses or perceived, he's just, he can't get over the hump. He's not going to be able to do it. 3,600 yards, that's enough where, you know, I've talked about, you know, Teterola McMillan and Bryce Young. It's like the reason that McMillan kind of freaks me out is the true number one on the team is,

Bryce Young, 3,3,300 yards. Like, that's a good season for Bryce. Stroud, Stroud hit 4,000 as a rookie, was 3,700 in a full year, his sophomore season, even if it didn't work out for us for fantasy football. That's 3,700 passing yards that he can easily return to. And Nico's the number one in as a good player. His line is set at 3,600 yards right now. And usually, if you don't, if you're unaware, lines are set a little lower.

than what, a full healthy game is oftentimes? You got to bake in some risk. Number nine. George Pickens comes in at number nine. I've got them at eight. Mike is, of course, the lowest. Of course. Jason at 10. So we're right across that. I mean, I really, really, I believe Dallas could be a very good team this year. I agree. It's not too dissimilar to Cincinnati. We've said it a million times, but.

They're very similar teams. Two all-star, all-pro wideouts, running games that'll be okay. Defenses that through Caleb Downs and Dexter Lawrence have both improved to the point where I think competitive, you know, being competitive and winning games with that kind of an offense should be there. You know, the story with George Pickens, number five overall last year, he was awesome.